


christmas lights

by lostmemoria



Series: veena's fic extravaganza [4]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Christmas, Christmas Lights competition sorta, F/M, Kid Fic, single dad!Jordan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-22
Updated: 2015-12-22
Packaged: 2018-05-08 12:45:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5497532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostmemoria/pseuds/lostmemoria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Dad, look. It’s so pwetty.” They had just reached the front of their home when she stops and points at the house across the street, a house with Christmas decor that makes his look absolutely pitiful.</p>
            </blockquote>





	christmas lights

**Author's Note:**

> marrish + [7\. ](http://lydiasdeputy.tumblr.com/post/135087357107/best-house-lightsdecoration-competition-au-and)Best house lights/Decoration competition AU

Jordan loves Christmas.

In fact, he loves the holiday season so much that the day right after Halloween, he’s already getting rid of the spooky cobwebs covering his door and the jack-o-lanterns sitting on his porch, replacing them with Christmas wreaths, mistletoe, inflatable snowmen on the front lawn, and lots and lots of lights.

Most people he knows in the neighborhood usually hate putting up Christmas lights, trying to delay it for as long as they could. But no, not Jordan. He loves taking the lights out of the basement every year, spending a good hour or so getting rid of all the kinks and knots that formed in them before climbing up on a ladder and taking his merry time putting them on the house while humming a holiday tune.

His four year old daughter Ava, would sit in the front of the house on the grass while he does so, playing with her toys and keeping his cell phone in the pocket of her dress to call 911 or Uncle Derek just in case he falls off the roof, because unsurprisingly, it’s happened before. And unlike him, Ava isn’t much of a Christmas enthusiast and he can prove it by the photo he took of her sitting on Santa’s lap at the mall last year where she looked absolutely miserable.

It doesn’t bother him too much that his own daughter doesn’t share his love of Christmas, but what does end up bothering him happens on one cold December evening when they’re walking home from her school after watching the annual Christmas play that the school puts up.  

“Dad, look. It’s so pwetty.” They had just reached the front of their home when she stops and points at the house across the street, a house with Christmas decor that makes his look absolutely pitiful.

The driveway is lined with candy canes that lead up to the house which is covered with colorful lights all around that are arranged in such a way that look anything but messy. The roof has glowing reindeers and instead of a basic wreath hanging on the front door of the house like his, there’s a huge brilliant one hanging right above the porch, almost mocking him. The huge tree towering the house on their yard is covered with lights, the bushes are covered with lights, even each window of the damn house is neatly bordered with lights. There’s so many lights that he could probably see the house glowing from the end of the block.

“Can we go over and look, dad?” Ava asks eagerly and he’s never seen his daughter so excited about Christmas lights _ever._

“Alright,” he murmurs, earning a cheer from her as they cross the street together. They reach the front of the house and Ava immediately lets go of his hand to admire the the Christmas angels and elves that are lined up on the lawn. Apparently when you get close enough, the angels start singing and it makes Jordan frown a little. He shouldn’t be jealous, not of a damn house at least, but it does make him feel a bit disconcerted because every year he’s used to having the best Christmas lights on the whole block.

“Looks like she really likes the decorations.”

The frown is immediately wiped off his face when he turns and sees a woman with strawberry blonde hair carrying a box and walking towards him with a smile. He can only guess that it’s her house.

He forces a smile back. “Yeah, she does. Kind of surprising since she isn’t really a Christmas person.”

She laughs. “I would have never guessed. I’m Lydia by the way, I just moved in last week.”

“Welcome to the neighborhood, I’m Jordan,” he tries to say without sounding bitter. He turns his gaze back to her house. “This…is some really amazing decorations you have by the way. Your electricity bill must go through the roof,” he says, trying to make the last part sound joking when really he’s trying to make himself feel better that at least he doesn’t have to pay that much at the end of the month.

“Thanks, and actually not really. All the lights are LED so they have really low energy usage,” she says coolly and Jordan just ends up gawking at her because _why didn’t he think of that before?_

Not only is her display way better than his, she’s also so much more smarter than him too.

“That’s….great,” he says a little bitterly, watching as Ava starts playing with Lydia’s dog, a white papillon. “Well, um, keep up the good work.” She smiles again and he walks over to Ava, having to physically carry her away from the dog while she whines about still wanting to play with the doggie, to which Lydia responds that she can come over whenever she wants to play with Prada.

Jordan just nods, thanking her before crossing the street with his daughter pouting in his arms, while he wonders who the heck names their dog after a purse brand.  

-

 

He’s really not the jealous type. So he thinks it’s absolutely ridiculous that he would be jealous of Lydia’s Christmas decorations.

But he is, in fact, jealous and he realizes it when he goes to the store that weekend and buys a whole bunch of more Christmas decorations to put on his house.

Because suddenly, this was war.

 

-

 

“Dad, are you sure you don’t wanna call Uncle Derek?”  

Ava’s looking at him with concern but her expression also says at the same time, _don’t be such an idiot and go call uncle Derek._

“I’ll be fine, Princess,” he tells her reassuringly as he starts climbing up the ladder while carrying a nearly twenty pound Santa and Santa sleigh up with him to put on the roof.

“Okay, but don’t come cryin’ to me when ya hurt yourswelf!” He hears her say and he can just imagine her disapproving look as he climbs higher up the ladder.

“Don’t worry, I won’t,” he calls back, slightly breathless because goddamnit, why did Santa and his stupid sleigh have to be so heavy?

He does manage to get all the way to the top though—after a good long while—but as soon as he tries to shove Santa and his sleigh up on the roof, his foot slips from the ladder, making him lose balance and yell as he falls backwards, hitting the ground with a loud thud. The last thing he hears is Ava screaming, “Dad!” before his vision goes black.

 

-

The next day, he wakes up in the Emergency room with a pounding headache an IV attached to him.  

Ava is asleep in the chair closest to the bed and on the other side, although his sight is still a little blurry, he catches a head of bright strawberry blonde hair. Lydia.

“Good, you’re awake,” she deadpans, arms crossed.

He clenches his head in pain. “Did you bring me to the ER?”

She rolls her eyes, “Of course I did. You almost gave your daughter a heart attack! What the hell were you thinking putting up that Santa sleigh on the roof by yourself?” It’s easy to tell that she’s irritated and her tone makes him wince a little.

“Sorry…,” he mumbles, looking down embarrassed.

“Don’t apologize to me, apologize to your daughter when she wakes up.”

He nods, knowing that he probably gave Ava a scare. “Yeah…It’s not the first time it’s happened though.”

“Surprisingly, I’m not surprised hearing that this isn’t your first time being the ER for putting up Christmas decorations. But it was definitely an interesting conversation when I had to tell the doctor that Santa and his sleigh knocked you out unconscious.”

He can’t help but chuckle. “Thanks for bringing me to the hospital…”

She shrugs. “I’m pretty sure death by Christmas decorations isn’t the most fitting way you’d like to die. Although I’m sure that would probably break a world record, or something.”

Her comment makes his chuckle turn into a laugh and even though it physically hurts his body to laugh, he can’t help it, wincing and laughing at the same time. Lydia gets up then, walking over and giving him his meds just like the nurse directed. “Alright, get some rest,” she says, helping him lay back down again. “You can’t exactly walk around and do stuff when you have a concussion. And I swear to god, if I ever see you trying to put Santa on your roof again, I’m gonna kick your ass.”

She smiles as she says it, and even though Jordan doesn’t know her that well, he already knows better than to doubt her words. 

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr](http://lydiasdeputy.tumblr.com)


End file.
